Even though one third of American adults are considered to be fat, we still are a heavily sizist country, which in turn fuels the fire to a hurtful cycle of oppression based on size. Not to mention this prevalent sizism aids in the rapidly increasing amount of people (mostly young women) with eating disorders.

In the United States:

7 million girls and women struggle with eating disorders.

1 million boys and men struggle with eating disorders.

Overweight people are targets of hatred and discrimination. Obese women are subjected to more social pressure than obese men. Hatred and disrespect towards fat people are seen in multiple places, including media outlets, where fat people are often ridiculed. Discrimination comes in the form of lack of equal accessibility to transportation and employment. Anti-fat stigma and aggressive diet promotion have led to an increase in psychological and physiological problems among fat people. and or held up as objects of pity.

Weight discrimination, especially against women, is increasing in U.S. society and is almost as common as racial discrimination, two studies suggest.

Reported discrimination based on weight has increased 66% in the past decade, up from about 7% to 12% of U.S. adults, says one study, in the journal Obesity. The other study, in the International Journal of Obesity, says such discrimination is common in both institutional and interpersonal situations — and in some cases is even more prevalent than rates of discrimination based on gender and race. (About 17% of men and 9% of women reported race discrimination.)

Among severely obese people, about 28% of men and 45% of women said they have experienced discrimination because of their weight.

The fat acceptance movement, also known as the size acceptance movement, fat liberation movement or fat power, is a grassroots effort to change societal attitudes towards fat people.